Picture Perfect
by SkippingThrough
Summary: In which a picture is worth a thousand words. That doesn't stop anyone from wishing for captions. / Photos from the future end up in the past. Confusion and attempts at getting ten steps ahead ensue. Crack-y idea taken seriously.
1. Sakura

Sakura is three days into official chunin-hood (she has the vest and everything) when she feels someone nearby pulse their chakra out in a recognizable distress signal.

It's the middle of the week and her shift at the hospital just ended. She thinks she shadowed the doctor successfully, but the doctor was a Hyuuga and their faces are absolutely flat and expressionless no matter who they're talking down to. It could've been worse, Sakura figures.

She could have been working under an Aburame.

Sakura is hard-pressed to stifle her shudder at the thought of being exposed to bugs, so she lets Inner do it for her (even though it's a very civilian state of mind). Then she almost shudders, _again, _at what would happen in Tsunade-shishou caught her being so unprofessional.

Sakura tunes back in just as the flashing chakra signal disappears. She cuts off her shunsin in that direction and stares in confusion. She can't feel any other ninja in this block of the city, but she can't sense chakra further than a block and a half away from her, anyway. That's Hinata's strength, not hers.

If someone is there, whether it's a fellow Konoha-nin or an intruder, she should be able to feel them. Sakura leaps onto a rooftop and starts running.

_Better to get the aerial advantage and get a look at the situation before going in._ _I - _

"Ah!" She yelps in surprise as a familiar chakra signal lands right next to her without warning.

"Kakashi-sensei! Did you feel that?" Sakura turns her head slightly, not trusting him to not disappear.

"Maaa, Sakura-chan. Not even a single hello for your poor, old sensei?"

Sakura snorted.

"Sensei, I saw you _yesterday_. Tsunade-shishou says you need to go back to the hospital to have your lungs checked, by the way."

Kakashi grunted in acknowledgement and rushed ahead. Sakura sighed, unsurprised, and jumped down to the ground to follow him.

_Huh? What is that? _Inner said.

Sakura stared at the ground in suspicion. Small white squares of glossy paper littered the sidewalk beneath her.

"Is this..." She trailed off.

_Stay alert. _Kakashi sighned in Konoha Standard. He carefully peeled one of the squares off of the ground and flipped it around. And stared.

Sakura peeked over his shoulder, only to catch a glimpse of Kohona headbands, or and , and pink.

"Is that our old team photo?"

Kakashi tilted the photo to face Sakura and she caught a glimpse of a whiskered face and someone who reminds her of the Uchiha policeman that helped her home once when she was was seven years old.

"We need to see the Hokage." Kakashi says, with a strange, hushed sort of undertone to his voice.

Sakura nods, speechless.

_We really, really do._ Inner agrees.


	2. Naruto

"Ero-Sennin! Hey Ero-Sennin, where are you?"

Naruto called out Jiraiya's name hesitantly. He slid a tanto deeper into a side pocket of his jumpsuit. The orange fabric, faded from the constant sunshine of ther travels, stood out garishly against the oaky woods.

Jiraiya had done his best to convince Naruto to find something less glaringly bright to wear, but he stood little chance in his own eye-catching outfit.

"It's about subtlety! I'm trying to _teach_ you to be _subtle!"_

Naruto frowned and always fired back.

"Forget that! Why don't you teach me something useful?"

Currently, he and Jiraiya were camped out between towns. Their travels had lead them far from Konoha, into the depths of enemy territory: Iwa.

Naruto had never traveled to Iwa before. According to Jiraiya, he was forbidden from ever saying he'd been there in the first place. Naruto had been firmly instructed to hold onto a henge of a young, country boy traveling from the Land of Fire.

He would have loved to experience Earth on all its glory, but Jiraiya had dragged him from red light district to seedy bar.

Now, they had been stuck covertly moving through another forest for over a week. They'd been moving through Iwa at a glacial pace. The forest, usually so full of life and sound that strategically helped conceal any of their movements, was dead silent.

For Naruto, experience had long taught him that the silence was dangerous. His nose twitched.

Naruto turned around and tossed out a shuriken into a cloud of smoke in the same movement. He jumped backwards and yelped upon seeing Jiraiya's tall figure emerge from the cloud.

"What the hell! You scared me!"

Jiraiya held out a hand in a gesture of silence. Naruto would have usually ignored him, but for the serious expression on his face. He eyed Naruto carefully and Naruto closed his mouth with difficulty, cognizant of the strangeness of the situation.

Even then, he could only hold out for so long.

"What's wrong? Hey, why are you so quiet?"

"There's been a change of plans. We have to get back to Konoha."

Naruto exploded - metaphorically.

"What the hell? Why? Is someone hurt? Is Sakura-chan or something? Is she okay?"

Jiraiya grimaced.

"It's hard to explain. There's been...an information leak, but nobody is sure of the extent of it. It's not safe to send messages right now, even with our summons."

Naruto nods understandingly and moves to pack his bedroll away.

"Ok, then let's move! If Konoha needs helps, I'm gonna help it! As future Hokage, there's no way that I can stay away."

Jiraiya nods at Naruto's usual enthusiasm and follows. The thin scroll in his hands disintegrates, acid eating away at the edges.

* * *

a warning: idk what i want from this fic.

anyway, thoughts?


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